The Ancient Fair of St Lucy is the oldest event in Marignano, closely linked to farming culture and the cycle of the seasons, but also to the profound cult of the Syracusan martyr, the patron saint of sight.
The fair originated around the Abbey of Santa Lucia al Moscolo, an ancient religious building located in the present-day hamlet of Pianventena. It was the archbishops of Ravenna who passed on the tradition of celebrating St Lucy, the Syracusan martyr. From 1805, in fact, she was moved to the vicinity of the castle walls: when a market square was built in San Giovanni in the Borgo della Scuola, immediately outside the ancient castle walls, the fair moved to the centre, and the church overlooking the square became for all the people of Marignano the Church of St. Lucy.
people of Marignano the Church of Santa Lucia.
Santa Lucia soon took on other characteristics, in addition to the purely religious one, calling itself a fair, indicating the economic aspect that would be of primary importance for centuries; in fact, it soon became one of the most important trade and livestock fairs in the valley.
The town square, on the days of the festival, came alive with merchants, but also with wandering theatre troupes, juggling acrobats, ferocious beast leaders, puppeteers, storytellers and impromptu poets. Another important tradition, still alive today, was to go to the A. Massari to applaud the comic performances of the local filodrammatica.
With technological innovations in agriculture, the tradition of displaying livestock for sale slowly disappeared. From the cattle market we moved in the 20th century to the food market and, in recent decades, to the many initiatives celebrating and preparing
the arrival of Christmas, and hundreds of volunteers still gather in the Piazza and the old town centre to celebrate this ancient tradition.